{{Short description|Ancient kingdom in the southern Levant}} {{Redirect|Edomite|the language|Edomite language|the pottery|Edomite pottery|other uses|Edom (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox former country | conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Edom | common_name = Edom | native_name = <span style="font-weight: normal">𐤀𐤃𐤌</span> | status = Monarchy | common_languages = Edomite | religion = Canaanite religion | capital = Bozrah | year_start = c. 13th century BC | event_end = Conquered by the Babylonian king Nabonidus | year_end = c. 553 BC<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Levin |first=Yigal |title=The Formation of Idumean Identity |url=https://www.academia.edu/26914216 |location=London |journal=Aram |date=2015 |volume=27 |pages=187–202}}</ref> | image_map = | image_map_caption = | today = {{plainlist| *Israel *Jordan *West Bank}} | demonym = Edomites }} {{History of Jordan}}
'''Edom''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|d|ə|m}};<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/edom "Edom"]. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.</ref><ref>[http://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/scriptures/bofm/pronunciation?lang=eng churchofjesuschrist.org: "Book of Mormon Pronunciation Guide"] (retrieved 2012-02-25), IPA-ified from «ē´dum»</ref> {{langx|xdm|𐤀𐤃𐤌|translit={{sc|ʾdm}}|lit=man}}; {{langx|he|אֱדוֹם|translit=ʾĔḏōm|lit=red}}; {{langx|akk-x-neoassyr|{{cuneiform|11|𒆳𒌑𒁺𒈬}}|translit=Udūmu}};<ref name="Parpola">{{cite book |last= Parpola |first=Simo |date=1970 |title=Neo-Assyrian Toponyms |url= https://archive.org/details/neoassyriantopon0000parp |location=Kevaeler |publisher=Butzon & Bercker |pages= 364–365 }}</ref> Ancient Egyptian: jdwmꜥ)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=Wd9_AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA557&dq=jdwm+edom&hl=en&newbks=1#v=onepage&q=jdwm%20edom&f=false|page=557|title=Mots et Noms de l'Egypte Ancienne |volume=1: Egyptien – Français |editor1-first=Richard |editor1-last=Chaby |editor2-first=Karen |editor2-last=Gulden |lang=FR |year=2014}}</ref> was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Israel, Jordan, and Palestine.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wöhrle |first=Jakob |year=2019 |title=Edom / Edomiter |url=https://bibelwissenschaft.de/stichwort/16831/ |website=WiBiLex |access-date=26 September 2024}}</ref> Edom and the Edomites appear in several written sources relating to the late Bronze Age and to the Iron Age in the Levant, including the list of the Egyptian pharaoh Seti I from c. 1215 BC as well as in the chronicle of a campaign by Ramesses III (r. 1186–1155 BC), and the Hebrew Bible.{{sfn|Negev|Gibson|2001|pp=149–150}}
Archaeological investigation has shown that the nation flourished between the 13th and the 8th centuries BC and was destroyed after a period of decline in the 6th century BC by the Babylonians.{{sfn|Negev|Gibson|2001|pp=149–150}} After the fall of the kingdom of Edom, the Edomites were pushed westward towards southern Judah by nomadic tribes coming from the east; among them were the Nabataeans, who first appeared in the historical annals of the 4th century BC and had already established their own kingdom in what used to be Edom by the first half of the 2nd century BC.{{sfn|Negev|Gibson|2001|pp=149–150}} More recent excavations show that the process of Edomite settlement in the southern parts of Judah and parts of the Negev down to Timna had started already before the destruction of the kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar II in 587/86 BC, both by peaceful penetration and by military means and taking advantage of the already-weakened state of Judah.<ref name=Advance>{{cite journal |title= Edomites Advance into Judah |first=Itzhaq |last=Beit-Arieh |journal= Biblical Archaeology Review|date=December 1996 |url= https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/article/edomites-advance-into-judah/ |access-date=2026-03-09}}</ref><ref name=Gunneweg>{{cite journal |title='Edomite', 'Negbite' and 'Midianite' pottery from the Negev desert and Jordan: instrumental neutron activation analysis results |author1-first=Jan |author1-last=Gunneweg |author2-first=Th. |author2-last=Beier |author3-first=U. |author3-last=Diehl |author4-first=D. |author4-last=Lambrecht |author5-first=H. |author5-last=Mommsen |journal=Archaeometry |date=August 1991 |volume= 33 |issue=2 |publisher=Oxford University |location=Oxford, UK |pages=239–253 |url= http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-pottery-edomite-negev-midianite-neutron-activation-analysis-j-gunneweg-1991ad.htm |access-date=8 December 2015 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4754.1991.tb00701.x|bibcode=1991Archa..33..239G |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Once pushed out of their territory, the Edomites settled during the Persian period in an area comprising the southern hills of Judea down to the area north of Be'er Sheva.{{sfn|Negev|Gibson|2001|pp=239–240}}<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Ben-Yosef|editor-first=Sefi |title=מדריך ישראל : אנציקלופדיה שימושית לידיעת הארץ |trans-title=Israel Guide: A Useful Encyclopedia for the Knowledge of the Country|volume=5 |publisher=Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence |location=Jerusalem|date=1979|page=25 |language=he |oclc=745203905 }}</ref> The people appear under a Greek form of their old name, as '''Idumeans''' or '''Idumaeans''', and their new territory was called '''Idumea''' or '''Idumaea''' (Greek: Ἰδουμαία, ''Idoumaía''; Latin: ''Idūmaea''), a term that was used in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, also mentioned in the New Testament.<ref name=CathEnc>{{Cite encyclopedia |editor-first=Charles Léon |editor-last=Souvay |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Idumea |year=1910 |publisher= Robert Appleton Company |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07638a.htm |location=New York |access-date= 8 December 2015}}</ref><ref name=EBEdom>{{Cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Edom |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Edom |access-date=8 December 2015}}</ref> During the 2nd century BC Hasmoneans, the Edomites converted to Judaism and became part of the Jewish population; Herod the Great was of Edomite origin. Whether this conversion was voluntary or forced is a matter of debate among scholars,<ref name= "ReligionIdumea">{{Cite journal|last=Levin|first=Yigal|date=2020-09-24|title=The Religion of Idumea and Its Relationship to Early Judaism|journal=Religions|language=en|volume=11|issue=10|pages=487|doi=10.3390/rel11100487|issn=2077-1444|doi-access=free}}</ref> with political implications.
''Edom'' and ''Idumea'' are two related but distinct terms; they relate to a historically-contiguous population but to two separate, though adjacent, territories which the Edomites/Idumeans occupied in different periods of their history. The Edomites first established a kingdom ("Edom") in the southern area of modern-day Jordan and later migrated into the southern parts of the Kingdom of Judah ("Idumea", modern-day Mount Hebron){{dubious|This leaves out the Shephelah: see Maresha/Beth Guvrin, major Idumean centre, home to Antipater the Idumean.|date=April 2024}} when Judah was first weakened and then destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6th century BC.<ref name= SBY>{{cite book |editor-last=Ben-Yosef|editor-first=Sefi |author-last=Lepinski |author-first=Nadav |contribution=Tell Maresha |title=מדריך ישראל : אנציקלופדיה שימושית לידיעת הארץ |trans-title=Israel Guide: A Useful Encyclopedia for the Knowledge of the Country|volume=9 |publisher=Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence |location=Jerusalem|date=1980|page=325 |language=he|oclc=745203905 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last= Eph'al |first= Israel |title= Changes in Palestine during the Persian Period in Light of Epigraphic Sources |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume= 48 |issue= 1/2 |page= 115 |year= 1998 |jstor= 27926503 |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/27926503}}</ref>
==Name== The Semitic root of ''Edom'' is '''dm'' meaning "man" (whence "Adam") and "red".<ref name=Akademie>{{cite book|page=55|title=Altorientalische Forschungen |volume=8-9 |year=1981 |publisher=Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR. Zentralinstitut für Alte Geschichte und Archäologie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KttAAAAMAAJ&q=idm+edom}}</ref> Its semantic extensions include "earth" (''adam-at'') and "deserts".<ref name=Cooper>{{cite book|page=216|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=znD-DwAAQBAJ&dq=idm+edom+dm&pg=PA216|title=Toponymy on the Periphery Placenames of the Eastern Desert, Red Sea, and South Sinai in Egyptian Documents from the Early Dynastic Until the End of the New Kingdom|first=Julien|last=Cooper|year=2020|publisher=Brill | isbn=978-90-04-42221-6 }}</ref>
The Hebrew Bible writes of Esau, the elder son of the Hebrew patriarch Isaac, that he was born "red all over".<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|25:25|9|Genesis 25:25}}</ref> As a young adult, he sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a portion of "red pottage".<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|25:29-34|9|Genesis 25:29-34}}</ref> The Tanakh describes the Edomites as descendants of Esau.<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|36:9|NKJV}}: ''This is the genealogy of Esau the father of the Edomites''</ref>
==Ancient history== {{Further|Ancient history of the Negev|History of Jordan}}
===Edom=== {{Hiero|jdwmꜥ<br> ''Edom''<ref name="Gauthier">{{cite book |last1=Gauthier |first1=Henri |title=Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques |volume=1 |date=1925 |page=126 |url=https://archive.org/details/Gauthier1925_1/page/n69}}</ref>|<hiero>i-A2-d:W-G20-qmA-xAst</hiero>|align=left|era=nk}}
The Edomites may have been connected with the Shasu and Shutu, nomadic raiders mentioned in Egyptian sources. Indeed, a letter from an Egyptian scribe at a border fortress in the Wadi Tumilat during the reign of Merneptah reports movement of nomadic "shasu-tribes of Edom" to watering holes in Egyptian territory.<ref>{{citation |last=Redford |title=Egypt, Canaan and Israel in Ancient Times |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1992 |pages=228, 318}}.</ref> The earliest Iron Age settlements—possibly copper mining camps—date to the 11th century BC.{{sfn|Crowell|2021|p=47}} Settlement intensified by the late 8th century BC, and the main sites so far excavated have been dated between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. The last unambiguous reference to Edom is an Assyrian inscription of 667 BC. Edom ceased to exist as a state when it was conquered by Nabonidus in the 6th century BC.{{sfn|Tebes|2022|p=651}}
Edom is mentioned in Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions in the form {{lang|akk|𒌑𒁺𒈪}} {{Transliteration|akk|Údumi}} and {{lang|akk|𒌑𒁺𒈬}} {{Transliteration|akk|Údumu}};<ref name="Parpola"/> three of its kings are known from the same source: Kaus-malaka at the time of Tiglath-pileser III (c. 745 BC), Aya-ramu at the time of Sennacherib (c. 705 BC), and Kaus-gabri at the time of Esarhaddon (c. 680 BC). According to the Egyptian inscriptions, the "Aduma" at times extended their possessions to the borders of Egypt.<ref>{{citation |last=Müller |title=Asien und Europa |page=135}}.</ref>
The existence of the Kingdom of Edom was asserted by archaeologists led by Ezra Ben-Yosef and Tom Levy, by using a methodology called the punctuated equilibrium model in 2019. Archaeologists mainly took copper samples from Timna Valley and Faynan in Jordan’s Arava valley dated to 1300-800 BC. According to the results of the analysis, the researchers thought that Pharaoh Shoshenk I of Egypt (the Biblical "Shishak"), who attacked Jerusalem in the 10th century BC, encouraged the trade and production of copper instead of destroying the region. Tel Aviv University professor Ben Yosef stated "Our new findings contradict the view of many archaeologists that the Arava was populated by a loose alliance of tribes, and they’re consistent with the biblical story that there was an Edomite kingdom here."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reich |first=Adam |url=https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Israeli-researchers-identify-biblical-kingdom-of-Edom-602158 |title=Israeli researchers identify biblical kingdom of Edom |website=Jerusalem Post |date=19 September 2019 |access-date=2026-03-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/bible-era-nomadic-edomite-tribesmen-were-actually-hi-tech-copper-mavens/|title=Bible-era nomadic Edomite tribesmen were actually hi-tech copper mavens|last=Amanda Borschel-Dan|website=The Times of Israel|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-23 |issn=0040-7909}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Levy|first1=Thomas E.|last2=Najjar|first2=Mohammad|last3=Tirosh|first3=Ofir|last4=Yagel|first4=Omri A.|last5=Liss|first5=Brady|last6=Ben-Yosef|first6=Erez|date=2019-09-18|title=Ancient technology and punctuated change: Detecting the emergence of the Edomite Kingdom in the Southern Levant|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=14|issue=9|article-number=e0221967|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0221967|pmid=31532811|pmc=6750566|bibcode=2019PLoSO..1421967B|issn=1932-6203|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Khirbat en-Nahas is a large-scale copper-mining site excavated by archaeologist Thomas Levy in what is now southern Jordan. The scale of mining on the site is regarded as evidence of a strong, centralized 10th century BC Edomite kingdom.<ref name=Draper>{{citation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121073705/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/12/david-and-solomon/draper-text/1 |archive-date=2010-11-21 |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/12/david-and-solomon/draper-text/1 |title=Kings of Controversy |first=Robert |last=Draper |journal=National Geographic |date=December 2010}}.</ref>
===Idumaea=== right|thumb|upright|Map showing kingdom of Edom (in red) at its largest extent, c. 600 BC. Areas in dark red show the approximate boundary of classical-age Idumaea. After the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians, Edomites settled in the region of Hebron. They prospered in this new country, called by the Greeks and Romans "Idumaea" or "Idumea", for more than four centuries.<ref>{{citation |author=Ptolemy |author-link=Ptolemy |title=Geography |volume=16}}</ref> Strabo, writing around the time of Jesus, held that the Idumaeans, whom he identified as of Nabataean origin, constituted the majority of the population of western Judea, where they commingled with the Judaeans and adopted their customs,<ref name="ReferenceA">Strabo, {{perseus|Strab.|16.2.34|}}.</ref> a view shared by modern scholarly works, which consider these Idumaeans as of Arab, possibly Nabataean, stock.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Herod-king-of-Judaea|title=Herod |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=2018-10-13|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uq2_tK0L2g4C&q=edomites|title=The Arabs in Antiquity: Their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads|last=Retso|first=Jan|date=2013-07-04|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136872891|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YrrRaeP5po0C&pg=PA44 |title=The Myth of a Gentile Galilee|last=Chancey|first=Mark A.|date=2002-05-23|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139434652|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W4H97SA6pMAC&q=Idumaeans|title=Rome and the Arabs: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Byzantium and the Arabs |last=Shahîd |first=Irfan |date=1984 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |isbn=9780884021155 |language=en}}</ref> The Idumean onomasticon catalogued in ostraca found in southern Palestine and dated to the 4th century BCE reveals a preponderance of Arabic names ending in waw and characterized as "proto-Nabataean".<ref name=Graf2015>{{citation |url=https://www.academia.edu/50939798/ARABS_IN_PALESTINE_FROM_THE_NEO_ASSYRIAN_TO_THE_PERSIAN_PERIODS |first=David |last=Graf |journal=Aram|volume=27 |issue=1&2 |date=2015 |pages=283-299|title=Arabs in Palestine From the Neo-Assyrian to the Persian Periods}}.</ref>
=={{anchor|Classical Idumaea}}Classical Idumaea== ===Persian period=== In the late 5th century BC, the Qedarite confederacy, headed by Geshem the Arab, were prominent players in the administration of the territory of southern Palestine and Transjordan.{{sfn|Graf|2003}} Compared to the neighboring Moabites and Ammonites, the name "Edom" completely disappeared from the area east of Arabah.<ref name= Levin>{{Cite journal |last=Levin |first=Yigal |date=2020-09-24 |title=The Religion of Idumea and Its Relationship to Early Judaism |journal=Religions |volume=11 |issue=10 |pages=487 |doi=10.3390/rel11100487 |issn=2077-1444 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The Qedarite king of the Arabs had allied with Egyptian forces during their campaign into Palestine and Phoenicia in 387, challenging Persian dominance in the region. A Persian counterattack launched in 385 ended with the dissolution of the Qedarite kingdom and the creation of truncated province of Idumea by 365.{{sfn|Graf|2003}}
According to ostraca from sites in Idumaea (i.e. southern Judah after the fall of the kingdom to the Babylonians, dating mainly to the 4th century BCE), a diverse population of Arabs, Edomites as well as Judeans and Phoenicians inhabited the area during the late Persian period.<ref name="KlSt07">{{Cite book |last1=Kloner |first1=Amos |title=Judah and the Judeans in the Fourth Century B.C.E. |last2=Stern |first2=Ian |publisher=Penn State University Press |year=2007 |isbn=9781575065809 |editor-last=Lipschits |editor-first=Oded |editor-link=Oded Lipschits |pages=139–143 |chapter=Idumea in the Late Persian Period (Fourth Century B.C.E.) |author-link=Amos Kloner |editor-last2=Knoppers |editor-first2=Gary N. |editor-link2=Gary N. Knoppers |editor-last3=Albertz |editor-first3=Rainer}}</ref> Strabo identifies Idumeans with the Nabateans who were expelled to southern Judea after committing sedition. However, there is evidence for cultural continuity between the Iron Age Edom and Idumea, based on settlement patterns and religious practices{{clarify|WHERE? In Idumea (southern Judaea), or did such elements also persist east of the Rift Valley?|date=April 2024}}.<ref name="Levin" />
=== Hellenistic period === The first mention of Idumea in extra-biblical sources comes from Diodorus who describes it alternately as an eparchy and a satrapy while chronicling the campaigns of Antigonus' forces against the Nabateans in 312/311 BC.{{sfn|Graf|2003}} The region they inhabit in this period is described as being centered around the Dead Sea, to the west of Wadi Arabah and south of Judah, with Palestine's Negev lying to the south.{{sfn|Graf|2003}}
During the Hellenistic period, both Jews and Idumeans spoke Aramaic and used it for literary and legal documents.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |chapter=Theoretical Considerations: Nationalism and Ethnicity in Antiquity |date=2006 |title=Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism |pages=21–22 |editor-last=Goodblatt |editor-first=David |chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/elements-of-ancient-jewish-nationalism/theoretical-considerations-nationalism-and-ethnicity-in-antiquity/CB4441D91310FB3557F79891F6AE8564 |access-date=2024-06-14 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511499067.002 |isbn=978-0-521-86202-8|chapter-url-access=subscription }}</ref> An Idumean marriage contract from Maresha, dating from 176 BCE, closely resembles the ''ketubbot'' used by Jews.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Eshel |first1=Esther |last2=Kloner |first2=Amos |date=1996 |title=An Aramaic Ostracon of an Edomite Marriage Contract from Maresha, Dated 176 B.C.E. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27926413 |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=46 |issue=1/2 |pages=1–22 |jstor=27926413 |issn=0021-2059}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> However, despite these cultural similarities, some Jews maintained a distinct boundary between themselves and the Idumeans. This is evident in Ben Sira 50:25–26, which expresses disdain for three "nations," including "the inhabitants of Se'ir", referring to the Edomites/Idumeans.<ref name=":0" />
During the revolt of the Maccabees against the Seleucid kingdom (early 2nd century BC), II Maccabees refers to a Seleucid general named Gorgias as "Governor of Idumaea";<ref>{{Bibleverse|2|Maccabees|12:32}}</ref> whether he was a Greek or a Hellenized Idumean is unknown. Some scholars maintain that the reference to Idumaea in that passage is an error altogether.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}
According to Josephus, the Judeans under Judas Maccabeus first defeated the Idumaeans in the two Idumaean border towns of Hebron and Marisa and plundered them around 163 BC.<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=AJ |3=12.8.6}}</ref> About 50 years later, Judeans under John Hyrcanus I again attacked Marisa and the nearby Adoraim: according to Josephus<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=AJ |3=13.9.1}}</ref><ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=AJ |3=14.4.4}}</ref> and Ammonius Grammaticus,<ref>{{citation |author=Ammonius |author-link=Ammonius |url=https://archive.org/details/greeklatinauthor0001unse/page/356/mode/1up |title=De Adfinium Vocabulorum Differentiae |page=243}}, possibly quoting Ptolemy: "Jews and Idumaeans differ, as Ptolemy states [...]. The Idumaeans, on the other hand, were not originally Jews, but Phoenicians and Syrians; having been subjugated by the Jews and having been forced to undergo circumcision, so as to be counted among the Jewish nation and keep the same customs, they were called Jews."</ref> Hyrcanus conquered the cities of Marisa and Adoraim, forcibly converted all Idumaeans to Judaism and incorporated them into the Jewish nation:<ref name= SW>{{Cite journal |last=Weitzman |first=Steven |date=1999 |title=Forced Circumcision and the Shifting Role of Gentiles in Hasmonean Ideology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1510155 |journal=The Harvard Theological Review |volume=92 |issue=1 |pages=37–59 |doi=10.1017/S0017816000017843 |jstor=1510155 |s2cid=162887617 |issn=0017-8160|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="JEnc" /> {{blockquote|Hyrcanus also captured the Idumean cities of Adora and Marisa and after subduing all the Idumeans, permitted them to remain in their country as long as they had themselves circumcised and were willing to observe the laws of the Jews. And so, out of attachment to the land of their fathers, they submitted to circumcision and to make their manner of life conform in all other respects to that of the Jews. And from that time onward they have continued to be Jews.<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=AJ |3=13.9.2}}</ref><ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'', 13.257-58</ref>}}
Jewish nationalist historians, starting with Heinrich Graetz in the 19th century, have been uneasy with the forced conversion of Idumaea.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sand |first=Shlomo |title=Comment le peuple juif fut inventé |publisher=Flammarion |year=2010 |isbn=978-2-08-122882-5 |location=Paris |pages=303–304 |language=fr}}</ref> Since the late 1980s, some scholars have questioned the traditional account of Idumaea's conquest and forced conversion by the Hasmoneans. Several reasons have been proposed for this skepticism.{{refn|group=nb|In detail: # While Strabo also reports that the Idumeans "joined the Judeans and shared in the same customs with them,"<ref>Strabo, {{perseus|Strab.|16.2.34|}}.</ref> he makes no mention of coercion, which was generally rare in antiquity.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}<!--Citation requested not for the truth of the claim, but for a reliable source having used it as an argument for the idea that conquest and forced conversion didn't happen.--> # The Idumeans most probably did already practice circumcision, like most Arab peoples, a fact that has been corroborated archaeologically through the discovery of circumcised stone phalli excavated at Maresha.<ref name="Stern">{{cite journal |first=Ian |last=Stern |title=Ethnic Identities and Circumcised Phalli at Hellenistic Maresha |journal=Strata |volume=30 |year=2012 |url=https://aias.org.uk/vol-30/ |pages=63–74}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}<!--Citation requested not for the truth of the claim, but for a reliable source having used it as an argument for the idea that conquest and forced conversion didn't happen.--> # Recent archaeological findings have revealed that Mikvaot (ritual baths), long considered evidence that the Idumeans indeed adopted Jewish customs after conversion, were actually used by the Idumeans even earlier than by the Judeans. This suggests that, rather than the Idumeans adopting Jewish laws, the influence may have flowed in the opposite direction. Additionally, other practices, such as the use of ritually purified vessels, specific burial customs, pork avoidance, and cultic aniconism further support this idea.<ref name="Stern" /><ref name= Levin/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Stern |first=Ian |title=The Evolution of an Edomite Idumean Identity. Hellenistic Period Maresha as a Case Study |editor-last1=Hensel |editor-first1=Benedikt |editor-last2=Ben Zvi |editor-first2=Ehud |editor-last3=Edelman |editor-first3=Diana V. |encyclopedia=About Edom and Idumea in the Persian Period. Recent Research and Approaches from Archaeology, Hebrew Bible Studies and Ancient Near Eastern Studies |year=2022 |location=Sheffield / Bristol |publisher=Equinox |pages=12–13 |url=https://www.academia.edu/114450458}} Pagination according to linked Open Access version.</ref>{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}<!--Citation requested not for the truth of the claim, but for a reliable source having used it as an argument for the idea that conquest and forced conversion didn't happen.--> # Excavations indicate that nearly all Idumaean settlements were not conquered, nor did the Idumeans remain in their land "out of attachment for it," as Josephus claims. Instead, nearly all Idumaean sites were abandoned during the Hasmonean period, mostly without evidence of conflict.<ref name="Freud">{{cite book |first1=Itzhaq |last1=Beit-Arieh |first2=Liora |last2=Freud |title=Tel Malḥata. A Central City in the Biblical Negev |volume=I |publisher=Eisenbrauns |year=2015 |pages=17 f}}</ref><ref name="Atkinson">{{cite book |last=Atkinson |first=Kenneth |year=2016 |title=A History of the Hasmonean State. Josephus and Beyond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SrfMDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |pages=68–69|isbn=978-0-567-66903-2 }}</ref><ref name="Sandhaus">{{cite encyclopedia |first=Débora |last=Sandhaus |title=Settlements and Borders in the Shephelah from the Fourth to the First Centuries BCE |editor=Andrea M. Berlin, Paul J. Kosmin |encyclopedia=The Middle Maccabees. Archaeology, History, and the Rise of the Hasmonean Kingdom |location=Atlanta |publisher=SBL Press |year=2021 |url=https://www.academia.edu/108756866 |pages=89}}</ref> # Exceptions: Khirbet er-Rasm, possibly Maresha and Lachish (where, however, at least Josephus's chronology is incorrect according to Finkielsztejn); all at Idumaea's northern border. Probably not Arad (in the south): Both Faust (followed by van Maaren), who suggests a Hasmonean conquest of Stratum IV, and Shatzman, who speculates that the unfinished construction project started in Stratum IV could have been a Hasmonean endeavor, fail to take into account Herzog's latest excavation report, which attributes the destruction of the 3rd century Stratum IV to an earthquake, as suggested by the damaged water systems here and in the surrounding area.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Finkielsztejn |first=Gerald |year=1998 |title=More Evidence on John Hyrcanus I's Conquests: Lead Weights and Rhodian Amphora Stamps |url=https://www.academia.edu/331038 |journal=Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society |volume=16 |pages=47–48}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Faust |first1=Avraham |last2=Ehrlich |first2=Adi |date=2011 |title=The Excavations of Khirbet er-Rasm, Israel. The changing faces of the countryside |location=Oxford |publisher=BAR Publishing |pages=251–252}}; {{cite book |last=van Maaren |first=John |year=2022 |title=The Boundaries of Jewishness in the Southern Levant, 200 BCE–132 CE. Power, Strategies, and Ethnic Configurations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LpZuEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA115 |location=Berlin / Boston |publisher=de Gruyter |pages=115|isbn=978-3-11-078745-0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Shatzman |first=Israel |year=1991 |title=The Armies of the Hasmonaeans and Herod. From Hellenistic to Roman Frameworks |location=Tübingen |publisher=J. C. B. Mohr |pages=55–56}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Herzog |first=Ze'ev |year=2002 |title=The Fortress Mound at Tel Arad: An Interim Report |journal=Tel Aviv |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=12–13, 76|doi=10.1179/tav.2002.2002.1.3 }}</ref> # {{external media |float=right |image1=[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Achim-Lichtenberger/publication/325795663/figure/fig12/AS:638041827840007@1529132434292/figure-fig12.png Altar of Qos in Mamre]<ref>{{cite journal |first=Achim |last=Lichtenberger |title=Juden, Idumäer und "Heiden". Die herodianischen Bauten in Hebron und Mamre |journal=Herodes und Rom |editor=Linda-Marie Günther |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |year=2007 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325795663 |pages=78, fig. 14 |lang=DE}}</ref>}}Both archaeological and historical evidence – namely, Josephus' report of an Idumaean named Costobarus, from a family of Qos priests, whom Herod appointed as governor of Idumaea and Philistia, but who purportedly rebelled against Herod by promoting the Qos faith, and the presence of a Herodian Qos sanctuary in Mamre – suggest that the Idumeans were not fully integrated into Judaism even after the Hasmonean era, but that the Idumeans who repopulated Idumaea after the Hasmonean period continued to practice the Idumean religion.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Magen |first=Y. |year=2003 |title=Mamre. A Cultic Site from the Reign of Herod |editor1-last=Bottini |editor1-first=G. C. |editor2-last=Disegni |editor2-first=L. |editor3-last=Chrupcala |editor3-first=L. D. |encyclopedia=One Land – Many Cultures. Archaeological Studies in Honour of St. Loffreda OFM |location=Jerusalem |publisher=Franciscan Printing Press |pages=245–257}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Vlastimil |last=Drbal |title=Pilgrimage and multi-religious worship. Palestinian Mamre in Late Antiquity |editor=Troels M. Kristensen, Wiebke Friese |encyclopedia=Excavating Pilgrimage. Archaeological Approaches to Sacred Travel and Movement in the Ancient World |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |pages=250 f., 255–257}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Michał |last=Marciak |title=Idumea and the Idumeans in Josephus' Story of Hellenistic-Early Roman Palestine (Ant XII–XX) |journal=Aevum |volume=91 |issue=1 |year=2017 |url=https://www.ieam.ulaval.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Marciak-Idumea-and-the-Idumeans-in-Josephus-2017.pdf |pages=185 f}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Cornell |first=Collin |year=2020 |title=The Costobar Affair: Comparing Idumaism and early Judaism |url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:33687/ |journal=Journal of the Jesus Movement in Its Jewish Setting |volume=7 |pages=97–98}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Katharina |last=Heyden |title=Construction, Performance, and Interpretation of a Shared Holy Place. The Case of Late Antique Mamre (Rāmat al-Khalīl) |journal=Entangled Religions |volume=11 |issue=1 |year=2020 |url=https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER/article/view/8557}}</ref> # Furthermore, the parallel account of the conquest and forced conversion of the Itureans is now widely considered fictional,<ref>Cf. {{cite book |last=Leibner |first=Uzi |date=2009 |title=Settlement and History in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Galilee. An Archaeological Survey of the Eastern Galilee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bsxkXam_QzwC&pg=PA321 |location=Tübingen |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |page=321|isbn=978-3-16-149871-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Aviam |first=Mordechai |year=2013 |title=People, Land, Economy, and Belief in First-Century Galilee and Its Origins: A Comprehensive Archaeological Synthesis |editor-last1=Fiensy |editor-first1=David A. |editor-last2=Hawkins |editor-first2=Ralph K. |encyclopedia=The Galilean Economy in the Time of Jesus |location=Atlanta |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |pages=13 |isbn=978-1-58983-758-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C5itCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |access-date=26 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Atkinson |first=Kenneth |year=2020 |title=Josephus's Use of Scripture to Describe Hasmonean Territorial Expansion |url=https://jewish-faculty.biu.ac.il/sites/jewish-faculty/files/shared/JSIJ19/atkinson.pdf |journal=Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal |volume=19 |pages=22, FN 69}}</ref> with even clearer archaeological evidence than in the case of Idumaea.<ref>Cf. on the clearly continuous pagan character of the Iturean region also {{cite encyclopedia |last=Aliquot |first=Julien |chapter=Sanctuaries and villages on Mt Hermon during the Roman Period |editor=Kaizer, Ted |title=The Variety of Local Religious Life in the Near East |encyclopedia=The variety of local religious life in the Near East in the Hellenistic and Roman periods |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden / Boston |year=2008 |volume=164 |pages=73–96 |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004167353.i-396.21 |chapter-url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00306502 |isbn=978-90-04-16735-3}} See esp. the map on Plate IX.</ref> Similarly, in other regions, where Josephus reports a conquest without conversion, archaeology also fails to support Josephus's narrative.<ref>E.g. Transjordan. Cf. {{cite journal |last=Berlin |first=Andrea |year=1997 |title=Between Large Forces: Palestine in the Hellenistic Period |url=https://www.academia.edu/381507 |journal=Biblical Archaeologist |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=30–31|doi=10.2307/3210581 |jstor=3210581 }}; {{cite journal |last=Atkinson |first=Kenneth |year=2020 |title=Josephus's Use of Scripture to Describe Hasmonean Territorial Expansion |url=https://jewish-faculty.biu.ac.il/sites/jewish-faculty/files/shared/JSIJ19/atkinson.pdf |journal=Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal |volume=19 |pages=22 FN 68}}</ref>}} As a result, historians have toned down the Hasmonean history of Idumaea as recounted by Josephus in several ways. Most historians still maintain that the events happened largely as Josephus describes.<ref>E.g. {{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |year=1994 |title=Mission and Conversion. Proselytizing in the Religious History of the Roman Empire |url=https://archive.org/details/missionconversio0000good/page/75/mode/1up |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |pages=75–76|isbn=978-0-19-814941-5 }}</ref><ref>E.g. {{cite journal |last=Chapman |first=Honora H. |year=2006 |title=Paul, Josephus, and the Judean Nationalistic and Imperialistic Policy of Forced Circumcision |url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ILUR/article/view/ILUR0606110131A/26188 |journal='Ilu. Revista de Ciencias de las Religiones |volume=11 |pages=138–143}}</ref><ref>E.g. {{cite book |last=van Maaren |first=John |year=2022 |title=The Boundaries of Jewishness in the Southern Levant, 200 BCE–132 CE. Power, Strategies, and Ethnic Configurations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LpZuEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 |location=Berlin / Boston |publisher=de Gruyter |pages=114–118|isbn=978-3-11-078745-0 }}</ref>
This view was first moderated by the assumption that only Maresha and Adoraim, located on Idumaea's northern border, were actually conquered, while other Idumeans voluntarily aligned themselves with the Judeans. The reports of forced conversions, in this view, are either anti-Hasmonean propaganda<ref>{{cite book |last=Kasher |first=Aryeh |year=1988 |title=Jews, Idumaeans, and Ancient Arabs. Relations of the Jews in Eretz-Israel with the Nations of the Frontier and the Desert During the Hellenistic and Roman Era (332 BCE-70 CE) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gw5BswLtBsAC&pg=PA46 |location=Tübingen |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |pages=46–48|isbn=978-3-16-145240-6 }}</ref> or, conversely, Hasmonean propaganda,<ref name="SW"/> which Josephus (mistakenly) incorporated into his historical work. Atkinson takes this further by considering the entire account of the conquest to be fictional.{{sfn|Atkinson|2016|p=67}}He also believes that "many Idumeans [...] never fully embraced Judaism."{{sfn|Atkinson|2016|p=95}}
However, while Atkinson still maintains that archaeology suggests "the region south of Judea [including Maresha] was annexed without any significant conflict,"{{sfn|Atkinson|2016|p=69}} Berlin and Kosmin now argue that even the annexation of Idumea and the Idumeans into the Judean state is fictional, noting that, as corroborated by archaeology, after most Idumaeans left Idumaea, Judeans did ''not'' settle in this abandoned area.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Berlin |first1=Andrea M. |last2=Kosmin |first2=Paul J. |year=2021 |title=Conclusion: The Maccabean Rise to Power, in Archaeological and Historical Context |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wusmEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA404 |editor1-last=Berlin |editor1-first=Andrea M. |editor2-last=Kosmin |editor2-first=Paul J. |encyclopedia=The Middle Maccabees. Archaeology, History, and the Rise of the Hasmonean Kingdom |location=Atlanta |publisher=SBL Press |page=404|isbn=978-0-88414-504-2 }}</ref> In line with this interpretation, it is now often assumed that Idumaea was not annexed by the Hasmoneans at all. Instead, the remaining Idumeans may have entered into an alliance with the Judeans, within which the Idumaean religion could continue to be practiced.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J. D. |year=1999 |title=The Beginnings of Jewishness. Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vX8moleho2kC&pg=PA116 |location=Berkeley / Los Angeles / London |publisher=University of California Press |pages=116–117|isbn=978-0-520-21141-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Pasto |first=James |year=2002 |title=Origin, Impact, and Expansion of the Hasmoneans in Light of Comparative Ethnographic Studies (and Outside of its Nineteenth Century Context) |editor1-last=Davies |editor1-first=Philip R. |editor2-last=Halligan |editor2-first=John M. |encyclopedia=Second Temple Studies III. Studies in Politics, Class and Material Culture |location=London / New York |publisher=Sheffield Academic Press |url=https://www.academia.edu/10245284 |pages=197–198}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Eckhardt |first=Benedikt |year=2012 |title="An Idumean, That Is, a Half-Jew". Hasmoneans and Herodians between Ancestry and Merit |encyclopedia=Jewish Identity and Politics between the Maccabees and Bar Kokhba |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |url=https://www.academia.edu/1606562 |pages=100–102}}</ref>
This reinterpretation leaves the prior depopulation of Idumaea<ref name="Freud" /><ref name="Atkinson" /><ref name="Sandhaus" /> as an open question, comparable to the simultaneous depopulation of Galilee and Philistia.
=== Herodian dynasty === Antipater the Idumaean, the progenitor of the Herodian dynasty along with Judean progenitors that ruled Judea after the Roman conquest, was of Idumean origin.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Marshak|first=Adam Kolman|date=2012-01-01|title=Rise of the Idumeans: Ethnicity and Politics in Herod's Judea|url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004218512/B9789004218512_008.xml|journal=Jewish Identity and Politics Between the Maccabees and Bar Kokhba|language=en|pages=117–129|doi=10.1163/9789004218512_008|isbn=9789004218512|url-access=subscription|doi-access=free}}</ref> Under Herod the Great, the Idumaea province was ruled for him by a series of governors, among whom were his brother Joseph ben Antipater and his brother-in-law Costobarus.
Overall, Herodian influence on Judea, Jerusalem and the Temple was significant. However, this was obsfucated by later variants of Second Temple Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism .<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Levin |first=Yigal |date=2020 |title=The Religion of Idumea and Its Relationship to Early Judaism |journal=Religions |volume=11 |issue=10 |page=487 |doi=10.3390/rel11100487 |doi-access=free }}</ref> For example, a minority of contemporary Jews argued Herod could not be Jewish because of his genealogical origins. These beliefs were promoted by works such as Jubilees and 4QMMT, which were of Essene, Hasidean or Sadducee origin.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McGuire |first=J. Amanda |date=2011 |title=Sacred Times: The Book of Jubilees at Qumran |url=https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=papers |journal=Papers |volume=2 |via=Digital Commons @ Andrews University}}</ref><ref>Schiffman, Lawrence H., ''Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: their True Meaning for Judaism and Christianity'', Anchor Bible Reference Library (Doubleday) 1995.</ref> These Jews did not openly express their views because Herod violently suppressed critics.<ref name= MTh>{{Cite book |last=Thiessen |first=Matthew |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/5287/chapter/148016316?login=true#273599969 |title=Contesting Conversion: Genealogy, Circumcision, and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Christianity |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199914456 |pages=87–110}}</ref> Evie Gassner believed the sages disparaged Herod because he supported the Sadducees, who opposed the Pharisees.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gassner |first=Evie |date=2019 |title=How Jewish Was Herod? |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/how-jewish-was-herod |website=TheTorah.com}}</ref>
By 66 CE, during the First Jewish–Roman War, the Zealot leader Simon bar Giora attacked the Jewish converts of Upper Idumaea and brought near complete destruction to the surrounding villages and countryside in that region.<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ | 3=4.9.3}}</ref><ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ | 3=4.9.7}}</ref> It was part of his wider plan to attack Jerusalem and seize authority for himself.<ref name="Josephus_War_IV">{{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ |3=4 }}</ref> According to Josephus, during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE by Titus, 20,000 Idumaeans, under the leadership of John, Simon, Phinehas, and Jacob, joined the Zealots as they besieged the Temple.<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ |3=4.4.5}}</ref> Idumean zealotry arguably reflected their attempts to 'prove' their Jewishness.<ref name="MTh" /> After the Jewish–Roman wars, the Idumaean people disappear from written history, though the geographical region of "Idumea" is still referred to at the time of Jerome.<ref name="JEnc" />
=== Borders and extent === Josephus, when referring to Upper Idumaea, speaks of towns and villages immediately to the south and south-west of Jerusalem,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Marciak|first=Michael|author-link=|title=Idumea and the Idumeans in Josephus' Story of Hellenistic-Early Roman Palestine (Ant. XII-XX)|journal=Aevum|publisher=Vita e Pensiero|volume=91 |issue=1|pages=171–193|date=2017|jstor=26477573|language=en }}</ref> such as Hebron<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus | Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=AJ | 3=12.8.6}}</ref><ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ | 3=4.9.7}}</ref>, Halhul, in Greek called Alurus <ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ | 3=4.9.6}}</ref>, Bethsura <ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus | Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=AJ | 3=12.9.4}}</ref>, Begabris <ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ | 3=4.8.1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1856|url=https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearc02smitgoog#page/n4/mode/2up |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, and in the Adjacent Regions. Journal of Travels in the Year 1838|location=London / Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|volume=2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearc02smitgoog/page/66/mode/2up?view=theater 67 (note 7)] |oclc=425957927 }}, citing Reland who cites in turn Tyrannius Rufinus in his Latin translation of {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ |3=4.8.1}}).</ref> Dura (Adorayim),<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=AJ |3=13.9.1}}</ref><ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ |3=1.2.5}}</ref> Caphethra,<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ |3=4.9.9}}</ref>, Bethletephon, <ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ |3=4.8.1}}</ref> Teqoa,<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ |3=4.9.5}}</ref> and Marissa,<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=AJ |3=13.9.1}}</ref><ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=BJ |3=1.2.5}}</ref> the latter being a principal city of Idumaea after the influx of Idumaeans into the Hebron Hills, shortly after the demise of the kingdom of Judah and the Judean exile in the 6th-century BC.<ref name= SBY/> Strabo describes western Judea as being populated by Idumeans, who commingled with Judeans and adopted their customs.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
Archaeological records gleaned from Maresha, though largely of Idumaean origin, attest to the region being under the influences of Hellenistic culture, as well as that of Nabatean/Arab, Phoenician, Palmyrene and Jewish culture.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ameling|first1=Walter|last2=Cotton |first2=Hannah M. |last3=Eck |first3=Werner |author-link3=Werner Eck |last4=Ecker |first4=Avner |last5=Isaac |first5=Benjamin |author-link5=Benjamin Isaac |title=Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae / Palaestinae |volume=4 (Iudaea / Idumaea) |year=2018|location=Berlin/Munich|publisher=De Gruyter |page=939 |isbn=9783110544213 }}</ref> The Gospel of Mark states that the Idumeans joined Judeans, Jerusalemites, Tyrians, Sidonians and east Jordanians in meeting Jesus by the Sea of Galilee.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Mark|3:8}}</ref> The Mishnah refers to Rabbi Ishmael's dwelling place in Kfar Aziz as being "near to Edom."<ref>Mishna Kilaim 6:4; Ketuvot 5:8</ref>
==Religion== {{Further|Canaanite religion}} [[File:Edomite goddess, Qitmit. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.JPG|thumb|Edomite goddess figure in the Israel Museum]] The nature of Edomite religion is largely unknown before their conversion to Judaism by the Hasmoneans. Epigraphical evidence suggests that the national god of Edom was Qaus (קוס) (also known as 'Qaush', 'Kaush', 'Kaus', 'Kos' or 'Qaws'), since Qaus is invoked in the blessing formula in letters and appear in personal names found in ancient Edom.<ref>Ahituv, Shmuel. ''Echoes from the Past: Hebrew and Cognate Inscriptions from the Biblical Period''. Jerusalem, Israel: Carta, 2008, pp. 351, 354</ref> As close relatives of other Levantine Semites and Arabs, they seem to have worshiped such gods as El, Baal and 'Uzza.<ref name= "ReligionIdumea" /><ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IK1VDwAAQBAJ&q=%22YhWH%27s+provenance+from+the+south%22&pg=PT123 |first=M. |last=Leuenberger |chapter=YHWH's Provenance from the South |title=The Origins of Yahwism |editor1=J. van Oorschot|editor2=M. Witte|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|location=Berlin/Boston|year=2017|isbn=9783110447118}}</ref> In some Jewish traditions stemming from the Talmud, the descendants of Esau are the Romans (and to a larger extent, all Europeans).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://asknoah.org/faq/edom-magdiel-rome|title=Did the Edomite tribe Magdiel found Rome? |website=AskNoah.org|date=January 13, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/people/edomites/ |title=Edomites |website=Livius |date= 12 October 2020 |quote=in rabbinical sources, the word "Edom" was a code name for Rome}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Esau the Ancestor of Rome |website=TheTorah.com |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/esau-the-ancestor-of-rome |access-date=2023-09-06}}</ref>
Juan Manuel Tebes argues that Qaus is a similar god to Yahweh. Both gods descend from a common cultural heritage and their cults were described by Egyptians. Qaus's popularity during the Persian and Hellenistic periods forced the pro-Yahwist authors of the Book of Chronicles to portray several Edomite characters as 'pious Levites'. Clues about their Edomite heritage are hidden in their theophoric names.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tebes |first=Juan Manuel |date=2022 |title=Why the Bible Is Mute about Qos, the Edomite God |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/why-the-bible-is-mute-about-qos-the-edomite-god |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223054039/https://www.thetorah.com/article/why-the-bible-is-mute-about-qos-the-edomite-god |archive-date=February 23, 2024 |website=TheTorah.com |ref=none}}</ref>
Josephus states that Costobarus was descended from the priests of "the Koze, whom the Idumeans had formerly served as a god".<ref>Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=AJ |3=15.7.9}}</ref> Victor Sasson describes an Edomite text that parallels the Book of Job, which provides insight on the language, literature, and religion of Edom.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Victor |last=Sasson |title=An Edomite Joban Text, with a Biblical Joban Parallel |journal=Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft |date=2006 |volume=117 |issue=4 |doi=10.1515/zatw.2006.117.4.601|s2cid=170594788 }}</ref> ===Hebrew Bible=== The Edomites' original country, according to the Hebrew Bible, stretched from the Sinai Peninsula as far as Kadesh Barnea. It reached as far south as Eilat, the seaport of Edom.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|1:2}}; {{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|2:1–8}}</ref> On the north of Edom was the territory of Moab.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Judges|11:17–18}}; {{bibleverse|2|Kings|3:8–9}}</ref> [[File:Wadi Zered.JPG|thumb|The Limestone waterfall of the Zered, now called the Wadi al-Hasa|250px]] The boundary between Moab and Edom was the Zered, now called Wadi al-Hasa.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|2:13–18}}</ref> The ancient capital of Edom was Bozrah, now Busaira, Jordan.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Genesis|36:33}}; {{Bibleverse||Isaiah|34:6}}, {{Bibleverse||Isaiah|63:1}}, et al.</ref> According to the Book of Genesis, Esau's descendants settled in the land after they had displaced the Horites.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tobi |first=Yosef Yuval |author-link=:he:יוסף טובי |editor-last1=Polliack |editor-first1=Meira |editor-last2=Brenner-Idan |editor-first2=Athalya |title=Jewish Biblical Exegesis from Islamic Lands |contribution=The Bible as History: Sa‘adia Gaon, Yefet ben ‘Eli, Samuel ben Ḥofni, and Maimonides on the Genealogy of Esau and the Kingdom of Edom (Genesis 36)|publisher=Society of Biblical Literature (SBL Press) |pages=101–120|date=2019|url=https://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/pubs/066702P-front.pdf|doi=10.2307/j.ctvrs8z1w |s2cid=243304416 |language=en}}</ref> It was also called the land of Seir; Mount Seir appears to have been strongly identified with them and may have been a cultic site. According to biblical narrative, at the time of King Amaziah of Judah (796–769 BC), Selah was its principal stronghold,<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Kings|14:7}}</ref> Eilat and Ezion-Geber its seaports.<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Kings|9:26}}</ref>
[[File:Bazra.JPG|thumb|right|Busaira, Jordan archaeological site, the former capital Bozra of Edom]]
Genesis 36:31-43 lists the kings of Edom "before any Israelite king reigned": {{blockquote|These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites. Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.<br /> When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah, from Bozrah, succeeded him as king. <br /> When Jobab died, Husham of the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king. <br /> When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king; the name of his city was Avith. <br /> When Hadad died, Samlah of Masrekah succeeded him as king. <br /> When Samlah died, Saul of Rehoboth-on-the-river succeeded him as king. <br /> When Saul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor succeeded him as king. <br /> And when Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadar succeeded him as king; the name of his city was Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred daughter of Me-zahab. <br /> These are the names of the clans of Esau, each with its families and locality, name by name: the clans Timnah, Alvah, Jetheth, Aholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram. Those are the clans of Edom—that is, of Esau, father of the Edomites—by their settlements in the land which they hold.<ref>{{cite web |title=Genesis 36:31-43 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.36.31-43?lang=en&aliyot=0 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>}}
The Hebrew word translated as leader of a clan is aluf, used solely to describe the dukes of Edom and Moab in the Torah. However, beginning in the books of the later prophets, the word is used to describe Judean generals; for example, in the prophecies of the Book of Zechariah twice (9:7, 12:5–6), it had evolved to describe Jewish captains. The word is also used multiple times as a general term for teacher or guide, for example, in Psalm 55:13.
If the account may be taken at face value, the kingship of Edom was, at least in early times, not hereditary,<ref>{{cite web |last=Gordon |first=Bruce R. |title=Edom (Idumaea) |work=Regnal Chronologies |url=http://ellone-loire.net/obsidian/Holyland.html#Edom |access-date=2006-08-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060429152200/http://ellone-loire.net/obsidian/Holyland.html#Edom |archive-date=2006-04-29 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> perhaps elective.<ref name="JEnc">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Edom, Idumaea |encyclopedia=The Jewish Encyclopedia |volume=3 |pages=40–41 |author=Richard Gottheil, Max Seligsohn |publisher=Funk and Wagnalls |date=1901-06-19 |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view_page.jsp?artid=45&letter=E&pid=1 |access-date=2005-07-25 |lccn=16014703 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921164021/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view_page.jsp?artid=45&letter=E&pid=1 |archive-date=2007-09-21 }}</ref> The first book of Chronicles mentions both a king and chieftains.<ref>{{Bibleverse|1 Chronicles|1:43–54}}</ref> Moses and the Israelite people twice appealed to their common ancestry and asked the king of Edom for passage through his land, along the "King's Highway", on their way to Canaan, but the king refused permission.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|20:14-20|KJV}}, King James Version 1611</ref> Accordingly, they detoured around the country because of his show of force<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|20:21}}</ref> or because God ordered them to do so rather than wage war ({{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|2:4–6}}). The king of Edom did not attack the Israelites, though he prepared to resist aggression.
Nothing further is recorded of the Edomites in the Tanakh until their defeat by King Saul of Israel in the late 11th century BC ({{bibleverse|1|Samuel|14:47|NIV}}). Forty years later King David and his general Joab defeated the Edomites in the "Valley of Salt" (probably near the Dead Sea; {{bibleverse|2|Samuel|8:13–14}}; {{bibleverse|1|Kings|9:15–16}}). An Edomite prince named Hadad escaped and fled to Egypt, and after David's death he returned and tried to start a rebellion but failed and went to Syria (Aramea).<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Samuel|9:14–22}}; Josephus, {{cite Josephus |Perseus=1 |1=J. |2=AJ |3=8.7.6}}</ref> From that time Edom remained a vassal of Israel. David placed over the Edomites Israelite governors or prefects,<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Samuel|8:14}}</ref> and this form of government seems to have continued under Solomon. When Israel divided into two kingdoms Edom became a dependency of the Kingdom of Judah. In the time of Jehoshaphat (c. 870 – 849 BC) the Tanakh mentions a king of Edom<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Kings|3:9–26}}</ref> who was probably an Israelite deputy appointed by the King of Judah. It also states that the inhabitants of Mount Seir invaded Judea in conjunction with Ammon and Moab, and that the invaders turned against one another and were all destroyed ({{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|20:10–23}}). Edom revolted against Jehoram and elected a king of its own ({{bibleverse|2|Kings|8:20–22}}; {{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|21:8}}). Amaziah attacked and defeated the Edomites, seizing Selah, but the Israelites never subdued Edom completely ({{bibleverse|2|Kings|14:7}}; {{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|25:11–12}}).
In the time of Nebuchadnezzar II the Edomites may have helped plunder Jerusalem and slaughter the Judaeans in 587 or 586 BCE ({{Bibleverse||Psalms|137:7}}; {{Bibleverse||Obadiah|1:11–14}}). Some believe that it is for this reason the prophets denounced Edom ({{Bibleverse||Isaiah|34:5–8}}; {{Bibleverse||Jeremiah|49:7–22}}; Obadiah ''passim''). Evidence also suggests that at that time Edom may have engaged in a treaty betrayal of Judah.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dykehouse|first=Jason|date=2013|title=Biblical Evidence from Obadiah and Psalm 137 for an Edomite Treaty Betrayal of Judah in the Sixth Century B.C.E.|url=https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/handle/123456789/6726|journal=Antiguo Oriente|volume=11|pages=75–122}}</ref> The people of Edom would be dealt with during the Messiah's rulership, according to the prophets.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|24:14}}{{Bibleverse||Numbers|24:17–18}}{{Bibleverse||Isaiah|11:14}}{{Bibleverse||Amos|9:11–12}}</ref> Despite this, many Edomites peacefully migrated to southern Judea, which continued even during the reign of Nabonidus.<ref name= Levin/> Regarding the territory of Edom, the book of Jeremiah states that "no one will live there, nor will anyone of mankind reside in it".<ref>{{Bibleverse||Jeremiah|49:17-18}}</ref>
Although the Idumaeans controlled the lands to the east and south of the Dead Sea, their peoples were held in contempt by the Israelites. Hence the Book of Psalms says "Moab is my washpot: over Edom will I cast out my shoe".<ref>{{Bibleverse||Psalms|60:8}} and {{Bibleverse||Psalms|108:9}}</ref> According to the Torah,<ref>{{Bibleverse||Deuteronomy|23:8–9}}</ref> the congregation could not receive descendants of a marriage between an Israelite and an Edomite until the fourth generation. This law was a subject of controversy between Shimon ben Yohai, who said it applied only to male descendants, and other Tannaim, who said female descendants were also excluded<ref>Yevamot 76b</ref> for four generations. From these, some early conversion laws in halacha were derived.
==See also== * Edomite language * ʿApiru * List of rulers of Edom * Gerim
== Notes == {{reflist|group=nb}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
===Bibliography=== * {{Cite book |title=The Ancient Israelite World |last=Tebes |first=Juan Manuel |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-000-77324-8 |pages=639–654 |editor-last=Keimer |editor-first=Kyle H. |chapter=Edom and the Southern Jordan in the Iron Age |editor-last2=Pierce |editor-first2=George A. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4beREAAAQBAJ&dq=the+ancient+israelite+world+edom&pg=PA639}} * {{Cite book |title=Edom at the Edge of Empire: A Social and Political History |last=Crowell |first=Bradley L. |publisher=SBL Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-88414-528-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HxEEAAAQBAJ}} *{{cite journal |volume=13 |issue=Suppl. 4 |date=1 January 2003 |via=Persée |publisher=Société des Amis de la bibliothèque Salomon-Reinach/Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux (Fédération de recherche sur les sociétés anciennes) |series=La Syrie hellénistique |title=Arabs in Syria: Demography and epigraphy |first=David Franck |last=Graf |pages=310–340 |publication-place=Lyon, France |journal=Topoi |issn=2496-7114 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/topoi_1764-0733_2003_act_4_1_2871 |editor-first=Maurice |editor-last=Sartre }} * {{JewishEncyclopedia |article= Edom |url= http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=45&letter=E&search=Edom}} *{{cite book |editor-last= Negev |editor-first= Avraham |editor-link= Avraham Negev |editor-last2= Gibson |editor-first2= Shimon |editor-link2= Shimon Gibson |title= Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land |year= 2001 |location= New York and London |publisher= Continuum |isbn=0-8264-1316-1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=l3JtAAAAMAAJ |access-date= 26 July 2021}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Edom}} {{Wikiquote}} *{{cite news |last1=Spencer |first1=Richard |title=Scientists find state of Edom which they thought was a Bible story |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/e070f2d4-de4f-11e9-9f61-dcefea5f5359?jobid=emailplatformpipeline-als-section-limit-c4726bf2-77cc-4530-8f38-d62b2a3129bc |access-date=24 September 2019 |work=The Times |date=24 September 2019}} * [http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/soc/EDOM.asp UCSD article on age of Edom]
{{Ancient states and regions of the Levant |state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}
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